‘American Idol’ Season Premiere: TV Recap

Tonight on the Harry Connick Jr. show…err, “American Idol”, a new freshness was pumped into the franchise, which was sorely needed after a few stale years. Producers, in addition to making some cool production decisions with funky edits and a new modern look and feel (which at times overshadowed the singing…like too often), played up the chemistry between the panel of judges, mostly because it’s the best thing they have going suddenly, but also because collectively, the judges were actually entertaining.

Jennifer Lopez was back at the table after an absence, replacing last year’s diva Mariah-Nicki disaster. Keith Urban, who played the straight man last year, returned with his sharp wit and technical commentary. And after stealing the show during some mentoring appearances at the end of last season, Harry Connick Jr. was the toughest critic–funny, brutally honest, and at times cutting, giving nobody a free pass and often faking out the good ones by first saying, “no” before saying “I’m kidding.”

Oh yeah, and there were these things called contestants too, who at times felt like a sidebar. This season 75,000 hopefuls came out to audition and hopefully, fulfill their dreams.

The show opened with one of them, a Detroit girl: contestant number 45201. She was teed up as the show’s potential winner, or at least a contender to beat, who got rave reviews from the judges about her ability to go to the end.

Then we saw what Boston had to offer. There were a few highlights. And some lowlights too.

Harry got caught with the not-age-appropriate song choice of one 15-year-old named Morgan Diplitch who sang lyrics “shaving me smooth.” Harry was creeped out. But Keith and JLo fought for her and she prevailed with a golden ticket.

Wildly entertaining didn’t always yield a golden ticket, as we learned from James Earl, a 22-year-old burger flipper who sang a song he wrote. Harry thought he was one of the coolest guys he’d met in a long time, but thought the voice wasn’t there. He was sent packing.

Austin Percario sang “Titanium” and wowed them all. Keith said, “Justin Bieber at 5 a.m., I bet he sings like that.” Austin might be one to watch.

Kaitlyn Jackson sang a song she wrote for her grandfather. He had a heart attack when she performed once. He survived, but died later, before hearing the lyrics she wrote for him. The story and the music moved the judges earning the 15-year old a ticket to Hollywood.

Dressed in full-fledged cheerleader garb, Stephanie Petronelli, wasn’t immediately taken seriously when she walked in, and while Harry was worried about her voice, Keith and JLo made the case to keep her. “I will slap you on national television,” Harry said when JLo disagreed with him. When the rest of her cheerleader friends poured into the room, Harry said he would have said yes had he known there were four more girls.

We saw what Austin had to offer, most significantly with Savion Wright, who said he waited 8 years until he was creatively ready to come in and audition. He showed true talent and shared a wonderful story about why music was his medicine. The judges loved him.

Madelyn Patterson, with her soulfulness and rasp, was another highlight in Austin. This girl from Georgia moved JLo and Keith and earned a ticket to move on. It’s difficult to know how Harry was going to vote as he got huffy when JLo cut him off during the critique and he refused to continue his sentence. They slightly got into it and JLo said, “I’m going to punch you in the stomach.” “Or something,” chided Keith.

Malcolm Allen with his pretend air guitar sang “Superstitious.” JLo said, “It’s so natural, I want to throw this pen at you.” He was an obvious talent.

One contestant Rolando Guerrero was moved to tears just from seeing JLo. Like a sobbing mess. He needed a hug from her to get it together. Keith and Harry mocked the attention JLo got. Rolando’s performance was dismal and he went home empty handed. He, and many others, only wanted to see JLo. Most knew Keith, probably because they watched him last year. But the show revealed how few people auditioning knew who Harry was at all. One even called him Tony. Then Munfarid Zaidi came in and revealed that he loved Harry so much he read Harry’s Wikipedia page every night before going to sleep. They hugged and Harry said he’d cradle him and pick him up during his second song if his first was good. And then he did. And he sang again in Harry’s arms.

Ryan Seacrest made a point of introducing The Chamber as a new feature this year. It even got its own hashtag: #TheChamber. So it must be important? Or not. It’s the waiting room/doorway between the hall and the audition stage where contestants can collect themselves before they perform. And that’s it.

The talent, with some of exceptions, seemed good, though it was hard to tell. The producers whipped through snippets of so many instead of highlighting some solid ones with great stories like in previous years. Hopefully, this quantity over quality thing doesn’t continue all season. It was hard to get a feel for who was great and who wasn’t with just a tiny sample from so many.

What did you think of the new judging team? Leave your comments below. Follow Stephanie Krikorian on Twitter @StephieKrik

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